Ep. 60
Author is absolutely unsure on the subject at hand
He is not alone
Impossible to convey- ineffable
Human language cannot describe it
Can convey basic feelings of emotions, but pretty bad at more complex things- indescribables
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The Sublime
People put into danger, generally in nature
People try to relate it to things they understand and can comprehend
Would only be one interpretation
First you must perceive something "powerful beyond measure"
Nature
Only place that can produce this level of magnitude
The Ocean is the greatest example of this
A small stream is small and comprehensible, but the ocean is powerful beyond comprehension
Compared to something small like a brook, the ocean doesn't dry out- it is eternal.
The Ocean is terrifying- lots of ways to die as a human and it is insanely large
The ocean is always moving as a result of the laws of the universe
People had such hysteria that they did it to themselves to try and force the Sublime experieneces
"Never underestimate the mind's ability to convince itself that something is true that it wants to be true"
ex. Bigfoot
ex. Aliens
Some people were just adventurers who had the experiences on accident- very interesting to try and encapsulate
ex. crossing the Alps in the 1700s- shows through very well in some diaries
Delight at the landscape contrasts with despair and horror
An aesthetic way of judgement, mutually exclusive from beauty
beauty=pleasure=enjoyment and ugly=pain=recoil
Sublime does not follow this process
Edmund Burke- a balance between danger and pleasure
"deep within us"
beauty is more passive, the Sublime is more active aesthetic judgement
A lot of people died trying to get the Sublime
Lots of people tried to make art to generate the Sublime itself
He can't relate to the actual event of the Sublime, but he can observe it
His dad and his war stories and discussing with other people who had seen combat
very nonchalant way to tell such impactful, scarring stories
To veterans, the war events are some of the worst in their lives
However, they still like to talk about the stories and recount the events
Possibly an artificial Sublime due to the severe magnitude of war
There has to be turbulence
Kant was (in the author's opinion) the 2nd best speaker on the Sublime
The ocean is raw power- can be seen with a sense of appreciation